New undergraduate course in alternative meats launched

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and The Good Food Institute Asia Pacific (GFI APAC), a global nonprofit headquartered in Washington DC that works to accelerate alternative protein innovation, are launching a new undergraduate course in August this year.

Named Future Foods – Introduction to Advanced Meat Alternatives, the course aims to equip NTU students with expertise and knowledge of the food industry focussing on alternative proteins and cultivated meat.

Singapore is at the forefront of the alternative proteins sector, with international food tech startups such as Perfect Day, Eat Just, Givaudan and Bühler setting up their regional base of operations here.

The course will help to develop local talent for the alternative meats sector in Singapore, as regional appetite for plant-based meat and other alternative proteins continues to soar. It is also in line with national needs, as alternative protein has been identified as an integral part of the Singapore government’s “30 by 30” goal to produce 30 per cent of the country’s nutritional needs locally by 2030.

This will be the first such programme offered by a local tertiary institution, with the first batch of undergraduates enrolling this August. It will be offered as an elective to third and fourth year students taking the Food Science & Technology degree programme as a 2^nd Major, which is offered jointly by NTU and Wageningen University (WUR) from the Netherlands.